Valentine's Day, Hitchcock Films, and Takeout
by Brown Eyes Parker
Summary: Four times Melinda May spends Valentine's Day with Phil Coulson, and the one day that they spend it as something more. Tiny mentions of Skyeward towards the end.


**Valentine's Day, Hitchcock Films, and Takeout **

**A Coulson/May Story**

**By Brown Eyes Parker**

**Disclaimer: All characters belong to Marvel, Stan Lee, and the Brothers, Wheadon. I'm just a fan playing in their sandbox.**

**Rated: T**

**.**

The first time Melinda May spent Valentine's Day with Phil Coulson was when they were seniors in college. She had had a date, but as soon as the guy had shown up at her dorm with red roses, she had panicked and begged off the date, pleading a sick headache. He had bought it hook, line, and sinker. When he'd left, May had given it half-an-hour before taking off her makeup, slicking back her hair, and hurrying across campus to Coulson's one room apartment.

She found him with pizza sauce on his sweatshirt and marathoning Alfred Hitchcock movies.

"Date didn't show?" He asked, going to his fridge and getting her a bottle of her favorite soda.

"Oh he showed all right," May answered curling up at the end of his couch and stealing a slice of pizza. "I panicked. . . Valentine's Day isn't for me. It's too lovey-dovey. . . too pink. I'd much prefer to be here with you. You don't love me, Phil."

"I love you," Coulson replied, rejoining her.

"You know what I mean," May answered, nudging him with her elbow. "You don't want anything from me except for friendship."

Coulson nodded and took another piece of pizza. "Well, I'm glad you're here. Even if it is just as my friend. It sure beats spending Valentine's Day alone and painfully aware of how single I am."

"Yeah, well all the girls here are jerks anywyas if they can't see just how amazing you are Phil. If they really you knew you, you wouldn't be watching. . ."

"_Suspicion_," Coulson supplied.

"_Suspicion_ with me tonight," May said.

"I don't mind," Coulson told her. "I'd rather be here with you than a girl who isn't interested in a thing that I have to say but expects me to spend an obscene amount of money on her."

"Well," May said, looking at the empty box of pizza between them. "You might have to spend a little bit of money on me. You're out of pizza."

Coulson laughed. "I'll get the takeout menus," he said.

**.**

"I thought you had a date," Coulson said as he opened the door.

"I left before the waiter brought the salad," May answered, kicking off her heels and dropping her clutch bag on the table by the door. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"Just _the_ _Lady Vanishes_ and Chinese food," Coulson replied. "What happened Melinda? I thought you really liked this guy."

"I don't like any guy half as much as I like you," May answered, shimming out of her coat and pulling her hair down.

Coulson turned pink inspite of himself. "I like you too. But seriously, what happened?"

"He gave me _pearls_," May answered, getting herself a beer. "He gave me pearls and suddenly, I could see my whole life with hum and I didn't like it. You have to understand—"

"It's okay," Coulson replied. "I do."

May sat down. "Thank you for letting me crash your evening."

"You're not crashing my evening," Coulson assured her. "I almost hoped you'd show up tonight. Almost."

May smiled. "Well, here I am."

"Here you are," Coulson echoed. "Come on, dinner's getting cold."

**.**

The third time they spent Valentine's Day together, she had food poisoning. He held her hair while she puked and rubbed comforting circles into her back while he whispered reassuring words into her ear.

Later on when it was all over, they curled up on the couch and shared a light dinner of Saltines and flat ginger ale while they watched another one of Coulson's favorite Hitchcock movies.

"Was Jenny upset you canceled your plans for tonight?" May asked, stirring her soda with her straw.

Coulson shrugged and adjusted the throw blanket they were sharing. "She wasn't happy, but she understood. I don't think I'll be seeing her again. . . apparently I'm not supposed to blow off my girlfriend for my best friend, even when my best friend is deathly ill."

"Eh, Jenny wasn't that great to begin with. No offense."

"None taken," Coulson answered.

"You'll find somebody new. Somebody who'll understand just how important your friends are to you and she won't care if you cancel your plans to help somebody out."

"I sincerely hope you don't plan on getting food poisoning _every_ Valentine's Day," Coulson teased.

May smiled and shook her head. "Like I wanted food poisoning. I wouldn't wish food poisoning on my worst enemy."

"No, just your wicked left upper-hook," Coulson joked, earning himself a pitifully weak punch in the arm. "Hey, at least it's scared away a few of my bullies."

"Now I know why you keep me around," May joked back, pushing the plate of Saltines away. "I'd kill for something other than dry crackers right about now."

"You can't. Your stomach is still too weak," he said. "You don't want to throw up anymore, do you?"

"No," May answered. "But I'd rather not eat anything."

Coulson shook his head. "Stubborn. Okay, don't eat the crackers then. But I insist you drink all of the ginger ale, and maybe some Gatorade later on. You don't want to get dehydrated."

May sighed. "Fine."

"Good girl," Coulson replied, smiling slightly when she leaned into him and pulled the blanket up around their necks.

**.**

"May!" Coulson said, opening the door. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be out with Ward."

"Yeah, well. . . I decided that I didn't want to deal with Ward and his hormones," May answered. "Can I come in? Or do you. . .?"

"No Valentine's Day date here," Coulson replied. "Come on in."

"What are you watching tonight? _To Catch A Thief_, _North By Northwest_?" May asked, kicking her shoes off and closing the door behind her.

"I hadn't decided yet," Coulson answered. "Why don't you pick?"

May shrugged and plopped down on the couch, crossing her legs as ladylike as she could in her tight red dress. "I don't know. I like the one where Ingrid Bergman is the spy and Cary Grant saves her life in the end."

"_Notorious_," Coulson told her. "Yeah, I like that one too."

"Have you finally made the switch to DVD?" May asked.

"Thanks to gift from Tony Stark and Pepper Potts a couple of Christmases ago, I have Hitchcock's whole collection of films on DVD," Coulson said, putting the _Notorious_ disc in and pressing play.

May lifted her legs when he came to the couch and rested her feet on his knees. "So, here we are again."

"Here we are again," Coulson echoed. "What did you do with Ward, anyways?"

"I sent Skye instead. She'll be good for him." May said. "She'll be able to. . ."

"Handle Ward and his hormones?"

"Exactly."

May and Coulson smiled at each other.

"And how about you?" He asked. "Do you think that you've found somebody who. . ."

"Can handle me and the way I can't handle my emotions?"

Coulson sighed. "We've spent a lot of Valentine's Days together. Almost as much as. . ."

"I know," May said. "I always seem to wind up over here, don't I?"

"Do they mean anything to you May?"

May smiled. "Of course it does. If I could go back and do it all again, I wouldn't do anything differently."

"Not even the Valentine's Day that you had food poisoning?"

May knew that he was teasing her, but she nodded and smiled. "Yes Phil, even _that_ Valentine's Day was pretty special. What about you? Would _you_ trade that day?"

"Even though my girlfriend dumped me—"

"Eh, she wasn't that great anyways."

"And I got your vomit all over my favorite tie, I still wouldn't trade even _that_ Valentine's Day for anything."

He wanted to insert something about her being his Valentine, but he didn't want to scare her away. He knew she'd run at the first sign of something that resembled the kind of affection that she hated. It was the reason they'd spent so many Valentine's Days together in the first place.

So he was surprised when she looked at him with a sort of longing and said, "All of my best Valentine's Days were spent with you. If I'm being honest with myself, I'd say that _you_ were my Valentine every year. I just didn't put a label on it because I knew what it meant, and it went against everything I thought I was."

"And are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Being honest with yourself."

May nodded. "Yes. Yes, I think am. So, what do you say Phil? Will you be mine?"

"But didn't you know Melinda?" Coulson asked. "I already am."

**.**

_One Year Later_

"I didn't think you'd show up."

"Well, if I didn't show up tonight, I wouldn't have had anywhere to go," May told him. "The one person I usually go to when I ran away from a date on Valentine's Day wouldn't have been home tonight."

Coulson smiled and pulled her in for a kiss. "Hi," he said when he had broken away.

She smiled back. "Hi."

"You look lovely tonight," Coulson said, giving her an admiring look.

May punched him in the arm. "Oh, stop it! You're making me blush."

"You're even lovelier when you blush."

"Come on," May said, taking his hand. "You don't want to be late for your movie."

Coulson laughed at this and she gave him an odd look, asking him what was so funny without any words.

"Nothing," he answered. "It's just that we're doing the same thing that we usually do every Valentine's Day, except this year we're a little more dressed up and at a movie theater."

May blinked and then she laughed too, shrugging a little bit. "Oh well Phil, why ruin a good thing?"

"Why indeed?" Coulson echoed. "Why indeed."

And then, he allowed her to lead him into the movie theater and into another Valentine's Day where he'd get to be with the woman that he had always loved.

**_The End_**

**Author's Note:**

**I am looking forward to hearing your feedback on this story. So, if you have any thoughts or feelings about it then please click the box below and tell me. I hope you guys all have a Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow and that you feel infinite amounts of love whether it is from a family member or a significant other.**

**Holly, 2/13/2014_**


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